Turkey chokes

[Barbaroja]

Hey gang, Turkey season is fast approaching and I’m kicking around the idea of picking up a tighter choke to try and tighten up my pattern.
I’m shooting a 12ga mossberg 500 with a 28” barrel, currently using the the full “accuchoke” that came with the gun. From my reading the constriction on that is .70. I’ve been looking at a few different chokes the kicks gobblin’ thunder xtra full is in the running but they range from .655-.685. Can any shed some light on what might work best? Or what you use and recommend for a turkey choke.
I plan on shooting lead through it but ability to shoot other types of shot is a bonus

thanks!

 

[George P]

what works best is what choke your gun and ammo likes. pattern your current gun with your current ammo and see of it suits your needs. there is no "magic choke" or "magic constriction"; just like metallic, each gun is different.

Spend the time working on your calling and you could use a skeet choke and some #8s.....

 

[Barbaroja]

what works best is what choke your gun and ammo likes. pattern your current gun with your current ammo and see of it suits your needs. there is no "magic choke" or "magic constriction"; just like metallic, each gun is different.

Spend the time working on your calling and you could use a skeet choke and some #8s.....

I’m quite familiar with the ins and outs of patterning shotguns and the loads I’m shooting were tailored for this particular gun and choke BUT I’m still interested in improving the performance. This is only my second season chasing turks and I’m interested in getting any advantage I can due to not being a seasoned turkey hunter.
I can’t argue about the suggestion to work on calling but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m looking for examples of what other people have found to work well for them.

 

[Patocazador]

My shotgun shoots #4 magnums better with the full choke than with the extra-full choke. Yours may differ. Read George P.'s post.

 

[eastbank]

i love hunting turkeys and use a 20ga and a 12ga and have gone to tss # 9 and it has worked very well for me, as i like the thrill of calling them up close a super tight choke with a very tight patteren is not as important to me. in fact a mod or imp mod as worked very well to 30-35 yards with a very good full covered patteren. if you use a very tight choke and get surprized by a quite sneeker at 10-20 yards you had better be right on. to get turkeys you do not have to be a supper dupper caller, but you must be in the woods and if the turkey has love on his pea size brain just about any call will be ok. my favorite photo my turkey hunting buddy took as i came out of the wood.

 

[dawei]

Hey gang, Turkey season is fast approaching and I’m kicking around the idea of picking up a tighter choke to try and tighten up my pattern.
I’m shooting a 12ga Mossberg 500 with a 28” barrel, currently using the full “accuchoke” that came with the gun. From my reading, the constriction on that is .70. I’ve been looking at a few different chokes the kicks gobblin’ thunder Xtra full is in the running but they range from .655-.685. Can any shed some light on what might work best? Or what you use and recommend for a turkey choke.
I plan on shooting lead through it but the ability to shoot other types of shot is a bonus

thanks!

Get yourself a Carlson's® .660" and .665" and you will be golden with lead, copper-plated, nickel-plated, Hevi•Shot®, or TSS™.

 

[George P]

Shouldn't need that tight of a choke with TSS; but then at ~$9/each, it gets expensive. Best reports I have on TSS is using #9s through either an IC or M

 

[redneck2]

When I got my turkey gun, I did a LOT of research. Ran across a company called Tru-Lock. Called them and talked at length with the owner. Found out a couple interesting things.

Most tubing is made by bending a flat sheet through mandrills and welding the seam. This can cause the pattern to throw off to one side. Tru-Lock mills theirs out of a solid block of steel.

If you call them, you need to let them know what shells, type of shot, and shot size you’re using and they make the choke to that specification.

When I patterned my 10 gauge, I set the target at 35 yards to count the pellet holes. Couldn’t, because it blew out the center of the target

At that time they held the record for the tightest pattern at (I think) 40 yards.

 

[entropy]

I’m quite familiar with the ins and outs of patterning shotguns and the loads I’m shooting were tailored for this particular gun and choke BUT I’m still interested in improving the performance. This is only my second season chasing turks and I’m interested in getting any advantage I can due to not being a seasoned turkey hunter.
I can’t argue about the suggestion to work on calling but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m looking for examples of what other people have found to work well for them.

It would be far more productive of your time and $$$ to research calls, buy the best and learn how to use it, as has been mentioned, but I found the Patternmaster Anaconda Striker Turkey Choke I bought for my 1100 to be very effective out to 40 yards on turkey head targets, and out past 60 yards on clay pigeons in Annie Oakleys. (the reason I bought it.) I got the .670 one; I'd heard from others who bought more constriction that it blew their patterns out.
The larger the shot, the less constriction you want, because as Patocazador mentions, it usually blows the pattern out. I never went higher than 4's when I did Turkey hunt, with a 30" Full 870.

 

[George P]

It would be far more productive of your time and $$$ to research calls, buy the best and learn how to use it, as has been mentioned, but I found the Patternmaster Anaconda Striker Turkey Choke I bought for my 1100 to be very effective out to 40 yards on turkey head targets, and out past 60 yards on clay pigeons in Annie Oakleys. (the reason I bought it.) I got the .670 one; I'd heard from others who bought more constriction that it blew their patterns out.

And that is one of the biggest issues with running loads too fast and too tight - you get lousy patterns with huge gaps in them. American mentality of bigger is always better and so is faster just doesn't apply to lead shotgun ammo

 

[22250Rem]

Glad this thread popped up. Like the O.P. I have a Mossberg 500 12 ga. turkey gun and was thinking of trying another choke this year. Currently using a screw-in marked "Extra Full" but have no idea what the actual constriction is. Seems to pattern pretty good at 30 yards but I've seen other turkey guns that do better. What I was wondering is, do the extended turkey chokes that stick out past the muzzle provide any advantage? I would think that they give a couple more inches of constriction to aid in producing a tighter pattern, but I'm just guessing. Local place has some of the extended ones in stock, at least they did a week ago. IIRC they may have been Carlson's. I would still be shooting turkey loads with # 5 shot because I have a lot of it that I purchased 18-20 years ago and I'm glad I did although these days they claim the newest high tech turkey loads give you more range. Are the newest turkey loads as great as they claim? Little over two months before Turkey opens around here.

 

[earlthegoat2]

My 20 gauge patterns very well to 40 yds with 3" No 5 and factory modified choke.

I couldnt tell you what your gun will like. Pattern with what you have now first though. You never know what your gun will like. As you can see, I didnt need a "turkey" choke. My dad uses a Stevens 311. The fixed full choke barrel gets a 2 3/4 No 5 to pattern reliably out to 50 yds for turkey. He never patterned the modified choke barrel and has never needed it. My friend is a big turkey hunter and has a nice 3" 11-87 turkey shotgun. He took out the factory turkey choke and uses a factory Remington improved choke because it patterned better with his ammo.

I try to implore people to not buy into marketing hype until they try what they have first. It seems like about half the time they end up getting acceptable results before they buy anything but ammo.

 

[redneck2]

I should have mentioned above, I’ve taken birds as far as a witnessed and lasered 67 yards, 52 & 55 yards. In my first five years with it I got five birds in five years with five shots. This is using the 10 gauge with Tru-Lock, 3 1/2” #5 Hevi-Shot

For whatever reason, mature toms sometimes hang at +/- 50 yards. First couple years hunting, I missed out on birds due to that. The 67 yard bird was the first year I hunted with that gun/choke/shell combo. Guy I was hunting with said he would have never believed it if he hadn’t been there.

Do a lot of birds get taken at shorter ranges? Sure. I think it had to do with me hunting public land at that time and the birds being spooked too many times

 

[Barbaroja]

Let me give a bit more info as people keep telling me to pattern what I have.
I have done a lot of pattern testing with the chokes I have, and the loads I’d like to use (in various shot sizes #4,#5,#6 and duplex loadings) and have settled on a load that gave me the best pattern with what I already have.

Now I’m interested in trying something new to see if I can do any better. Don’t worry about the money, you don’t have to pay for my choke.

 

[Barbaroja]

When I got my turkey gun, I did a LOT of research. Ran across a company called Tru-Lock. Called them and talked at length with the owner. Found out a couple interesting things.

Most tubing is made by bending a flat sheet through mandrills and welding the seam. This can cause the pattern to throw off to one side. Tru-Lock mills theirs out of a solid block of steel.

If you call them, you need to let them know what shells, type of shot, and shot size you’re using and they make the choke to that specification.

When I patterned my 10 gauge, I set the target at 35 yards to count the pellet holes. Couldn’t, because it blew out the center of the target

At that time they held the record for the tightest pattern at (I think) 40 yards.

Thanks I’ll check them out.

 

[Captcurt]

I have played with turkey loads and chokes for nearly 50 years. Normally the smaller the shot the more constriction you can use. Now I'm talking lead or Heavy Shot. Don't know about the tungsten. Never wanted to pay for it and figure if I can't kill it with a load of #5 lead I don't need to shoot at it. My Carlson's .665 handle #6 LongBeards very well, but is too tight for 4's. My Indian Creek .670 shoots 6's the best but 5's are a close second. I shoot the LongBeard 5's just for the penetration. I wish I could get the 4's to pattern like them, but after using 4 or 5 different chokes ranging from .640-.685 I settled for the 5's.

It seems that the new fade is a single shot 410 with #9 TSS. I can see that the TSS loads should be awesome but only time will tell, and someone else can pay for them. I would need a co-signer.

 

[eastbank]

if you shop around the tss shells can be bought 6-7 dollars a piece and are a small price added to your turkey expence. license-calls-eats-gas-cloths ect. if there were no tss shells as in the old days, i killed just as many turkeys with the older shells with 90 precent being shot at 35 yards or closer. but i have lost birds that i,m sure i would have gotten with the tss shells and to me they are a great game bird and deserve to be killed cleanly, not wounded.

 

[DocRock]

I swear by Sumtoy. Will do a lead or TSS/Heavishot choke for you.

https://www.sumtoycustoms.com/index.php/component/content/category/11-news

 

[buck460XVR]

My shotgun shoots #4 magnums better with the full choke than with the extra-full choke. Yours may differ. Read George P.'s post.

^^^This has been my experience too. Another experience I have had is having too full of choke when a Tom steps out @ 7 yards and won't stop. Pattern your gun with some loads first and see how you gun shoots. Sometimes, it's not the choke, but the ammo. I too went thru the choke "search" for my Mossberg 500 and Remmie 870. Ended up stickin' with the stoke full choke tube in both. Nowadays, I use my Dad's old 1897 with 2 3/4' #5s. Works just as well as the 500 and the 870 ever did. Know where your gun shoots and how it shoots a different yardage. I'm not sayin' don;t buy a different choke tube, just sayin' make sure what you have ain't good enough first.

 

[Barbaroja]

Let me give a bit more info as people keep telling me to pattern what I have.
I have done a lot of pattern testing with the chokes I have, and the loads I’d like to use (in various shot sizes #4,#5,#6 and duplex loadings) and have settled on a load that gave me the best pattern with what I already have.

Now I’m interested in trying something new to see if I can do any better. Don’t worry about the money, you don’t have to pay for my choke.

 

[FL-NC]

In my limited experience, it could be hard to know without testing. I have seen identical shotguns new out of the box with identical chokes throw different patterns from shells out of the same box. My 870 with the factory x-full throws better (tighter) patterns with anything I put in it than my Mossberg 930 with longbeard choke & ammo, but that 870 really hurts when I fire it.

 

[JustSomeGuy264]

Patterning a turkey gun is much like working on a load for a rifle, each gun is different. If I were you and money was no object I'd just buy a quality choke and try it out. If it gives you the results you want, great. If not, sell it and try another.

The big names have already been mentioned here, Carlson's, Indian Creek, Sumtoy... I personally use a primos jellyhead in my stoeger and it works great.

 

[jmr40]

With ammo shortages this isn't a good time to experiment. Figuring out the best combo of choke, shells, shot size, etc., can take time and a lot of ammo. Sometimes too much choke gives poor patterns with some shot sizes and some brands of shells and will do great with another brand of ammo or shot size. Also in my experience smaller gauges are more critical.

Maybe I just got lucky, but in 12 ga I can do just fine with the factory full choke and several brands of 3" #5's. But when I decided to try to hunt with a 20 ga I experimented with 4-5 different loads and 2 different choke tubes and never found anything that I was comfortable using. In fact I gave up on the 20 and went back to my 12 for a couple of years.

Last spring I bought 2 more boxes of shells and finally found one that gave me patterns that I felt confident in using. I just don't know what is going to be available on store shelves to use at the moment. The odd thing is that the 2 boxes of ammo I tried las spring were both from the same manufacturer, both had 1 1/4oz of #5 pellets. The only difference is that one was loaded to 1185 fps, the other 1000 fps. The 1000fps load shot a LOT tighter pattern.

 

[natman]

Hey gang, Turkey season is fast approaching and I’m kicking around the idea of picking up a tighter choke to try and tighten up my pattern.
I’m shooting a 12ga mossberg 500 with a 28” barrel, currently using the the full “accuchoke” that came with the gun. From my reading the constriction on that is .70. I’ve been looking at a few different chokes the kicks gobblin’ thunder xtra full is in the running but they range from .655-.685. Can any shed some light on what might work best? Or what you use and recommend for a turkey choke.
I plan on shooting lead through it but ability to shoot other types of shot is a bonus

I've killed a lot of turkeys with the Mossberg Xtra-full choke in both 28 and 20" barrels.

 

[Captcurt]

Be sure to check the POI too. My 28" vent ribbed barrel on my 1300 Winchester shot lower and to the left. I put a 20" smooth bore slug barrel with iron sights on it and cured things. Then it was merely finding a choke that I liked. Sights really help at close range. I shot a bird 2 years ago at 15 feet and shot half of the beak off of another one several years ago.